Area students awarded scholarships

KASSIA MICEK

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Christopher Maier and Wesley Ammerman, of Oak Ridge High School; Chao Chen and Kelly Llewellyn of The Woodlands High School; and William Crosswy and Carolyn Moss, of the John Cooper School, are among the most recent list of 2,100 National Merit Scholarship winners.

The six Montgomery County students join approximately 8,200 Merit Scholar awardees who will receive scholarships for undergraduate study worth a combined $33 million, according to a National Merit Scholarship program press release.

The list released recently is the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's third list of 2006 scholarship recipients. While previous awardees received NMSC- and corporate-funded scholarships, the recently recognized students will receive between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years from colleges and universities.

While attending the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University on a scholarship from the university, Moss, 18, plans to study economics and to pursue a career in international law.

"I'm actually pretty good with languages," said Moss, adding that she speaks English, Spanish and plans to learn Chinese. "I have pretty good debate skills too."

The scholarship will cover Moss' tuition and room and board costs, she said.

"It was a really big deal with me, because people are talking about college right now and having to take out student loans," Moss said. "I'm really looking forward to starting my life financially independent."

Ammerman, 19, will study biomedical engineering at The University of Texas in Austin.

"It's one of the things I've found interesting in high school," he said about the anatomy of biology and mathematics.

Although his Texas Tomorrow Fund will pay for tuition, the University of Texas merit scholarship will cover books and extra class fees, Ammerman said.

Political science or psychology is what Llewellyn, 17, plans to study while attending Southwestern University on a scholarship from the university. She hopes that education will help her become a psychologist.

"I'm really good at talking to people that have problems and giving them advice," Llewellyn said.

Although the small, liberal arts school in Georgetown was the only place she applied, Llewellyn said after she visited the school it just seemed like it was the perfect place for her. She will receive $2,000 a year for four years from a Southwestern University Merit Scholarship.

While attending the University of Texas at Dallas, Maier, 18, plans to study computer science and mathematics and find a career that will combine the two fields, he said.

"They're just fun and I've always been good at them," said Maier, adding he was in advanced math classes throughout school.

Since the University of Texas at Dallas merit scholarship will cover tuition and room and board for four years, Maier said he's relieved he doesn't have to worry about finances and can focus on his studies.

Chen plans to study electrical engineering at The University of Texas, while Crosswy plans to study engineering at Vanderbilt University, according to a press release from the NMSC.

The students began their quest a year and a half ago when more than 1.3 million juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools took the 2004 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying test, according to an NMSP press release. The 16,000 semifinalists were named in September and more than 15,000 advanced to the finalist level where more than half received merit scholarship awards, according to the NMSP press release.